Orange Teen Hit, Killed On Walk To School-bus Stop

The Dr. Phillips Student Could Have Caught The Bus Closer To Home But Crossed Oak Ridge To Meet Friends.

October 26, 1999|By Henry Pierson Curtis of The Sentinel Staff

Patrice Anderson could have boarded her school bus just a few hundred feet from her home. But she preferred to walk more than a half-mile farther to catch the bus with friends from Dr. Phillips High School.

She died Monday crossing a dark, busy stretch of Oak Ridge Road.

Patrice, 14, was struck and killed about 6:35 a.m. as she and several friends walked or ran south across the five lanes of Oak Ridge at Harcourt Avenue. The intersection does not have a crosswalk.

``She made it all the way across to the fifth lane where she was struck,'' said Florida Highway Patrol spokeswoman Trooper Kim Miller.

The pickup that hit Patrice was heading east. Its driver, Jimmy Hickman, was driving within the area's 40-mph speed limit and was not at fault, troopers said. ``He never saw her, apparently,'' Miller said.

She was the fifth Orange County student struck while walking to school before dawn since the beginning of the school year.

``All of them have been the pedestrians' fault,'' Miller said.

Patrice's mother and stepfather rushed five blocks to their child as soon as they heard about the accident. They found her body on the south shoulder of Oak Ridge.

``They should be going to school when it's light out,'' said her stepfather, Damon Owens. Parents in the southwest Orange County neighborhood had expressed their dislike for the pre-dawn walks to the bus stop, he said.

Patrice's brother, Darell, 15, said she always walked past the bus stop close to her home on Canna Drive so she could join about 30 teens who boarded the bus at Belvidere Street and Fairlawn Drive, about one block south of Oak Ridge.

She was breaking no rule, because the Orange County school district does not require students to use bus stops closest to home, a district spokeswoman said.

A motorist driving behind Hickman told troopers Hickman, 61, of Kissimmee, had a green light through the Harcourt Avenue intersection.

Like Patrice's stepfather, residents blamed the death partly on Orange County requiring children to cross streets before dawn on their way to school. One couple, Jose and Norma Ramos, said Oak Ridge lacks lights, crosswalks and traffic signals that give pedestrians enough time to cross.

A check of the Harcourt Avenue traffic signal showed it stayed red between 11 and 15 seconds during eight cycles from green through yellow to red. Known as a ``demand'' traffic signal, the light can stay red anywhere from six seconds to more than 20 seconds depending on how many cars pass over a monitor in the pavement, according to the county traffic department.

A 6-foot adult required 11 seconds to walk across the five lanes.

Speeding motorists make crossing the road a constant threat, residents of the area said.

``People fly down here. They think it's a raceway,'' said Lillian Poole, who lives next to the bus stop where Patrice was heading. ``They fly down here whether it's night or day.''

The bus stop at Belvidere and Fairlawn is eight-tenths of a mile from Patrice's home. The nearest crosswalk across Oak Ridge is four-tenths of a mile east at Kingsgate Drive. Taking that route would have required Patrice and her friends to walk an extra eight-tenths of a mile simply to cross the street.

To the west, the closest crosswalk is 1.2 miles away at International Drive.

The busy stretch of Oak Ridge between Kingsgate and the Fairlawn bus stop had 27 motor-vehicle accidents last year. There have been 19 so far this year.

A county traffic worker was unable to say Monday whether the number of crashes was average for similar lengths of five-lane roadway.

``We want to see something done at this intersection so other children won't fall victim to this,'' said Charles Gibson, an uncle of the dead teen's. ``They should have a crossing guard.''

Patrice's stepfather, who works for the city of Orlando sewer department, described her as a friendly, outspoken teenager who loved listening to singers Britney Spears and Celine Dion. She listened so much to Dion's hit from the movie Titanic that her brother banned it in the house.

The bus stop at Belvidere and Fairlawn is eight-tenths of a mile from Patrice's home. The nearest crosswalk across Oak Ridge is four-tenths of a mile east at Kingsgate Drive. Taking that route wojld have required Patrice and her friends to walk an exctra eight-tenths of a mile simply to cross the street.

To the west, the closest crosswalk is 1.2 miles away at International Drive.

The busy stretch of Oak Ridge between Kingsgate and the Fairlawn bus stop had 27 motor-vehicle accidents last year. There have been 19 so far this year.

A county traffic worker was unable to say Monday whether the number of crashes was average for similar lengths of five-lane roadway.

"We want to see something done at this intersection so other children won't fall victim to this," said Charles Gibson, an uncle of the dead teen's. "They should have a crossing guard."

Patrice's stepfather, who works for the city of Orlando sewer department, described her as a friendly, outspoken teenager who loved listening to singers Britney Spears and Celine Dion. She listened so much to Dion's hit from the movie Titanic that her brother banned it in the house.

The teen's mother, a beautician who styled her daughter's hair, was too distraught to talk about her loss. In addition to her brother, Patrice also had three sisters.

"She was happy.... She was a very bright young girl," her uncle said. "She was getting up, going to school. She was doing what she was supposed to be doing."